Doom metal is often considered a slow but extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. This form of rock music is often focused on down-tuned and heavy guitars. It involves slower tempos and the overall feel created is of a bleak atmosphere.
The doom metal vocals can range from clean and operatic to the more extreme death metal growls. The first doom metal band as well as the first metal band is believed to be Black Sabbath. They were an English rock band formed in 1968 in the city of Birmingham. Now, let’s take a look at some of the fusion genres of this heavy metal sub-genre.
1. Black-doom
This fusion genre of doom metal is also called blackened doom. In order to emphasize black metal’s harsh atmosphere, the black-doom bands use the slower pace of doom metal. They also maintain black metal’s Satanic ideology while melding it with doom metal’s moodier themes like depression and nihilism.
Black-doom combines the thicker sound of doom metal with black metal’s heavily distorted guitar sound and shrieking vocals. The best examples of black-doom bands are Barathrum, Bethlehem, Dolorian, October Tide, Forgotten Tomb, and Shining.
2. Death-doom
In death-doom, slow tempos and pessimism of doom metal is combined with death metal’s growling vocals and double-kick drumming. It is influenced to a great extent by the early works of Celtic Frost and Hellhammer.
This style of heavy metal music evolved during the late 1980s and gained considerable popularity in the 1990s. Death-doom was pioneered by bands like Winter, Novembers Doom, Anathema, Autopsy, and My Dying Bride.
3. Drone metal
Generally influenced by minimalist music, drone music, and noise music, drone metal is also called ‘drone doom’. It is defined to a great extent by sustained and repeated chords, drones, or notes in a piece of music. It lacks the presence of drums and vocals while the electric guitar is played with heavy feedback and reverb.
Songs in this genre are often quite long without the inclusion of beat or rhythm in the traditional sense. Pioneered by the bands Boris, Earth, and Sunn O))), this style of heavy metal music emerged in the early 1990s.
4. Funeral doom
This is a fusion genre of doom metal that combines funeral dirge music with death-doom. A lot of emphasis is placed on evoking a sense of despair and emptiness with an extremely slow tempo. A ‘dreamlike’ atmosphere is created using keyboards or synthesizers.
The electric guitars used in funeral doom are heavily distorted. Vocals are often in the background and contain mournful chants or growls. This form of heavy metal music was pioneered by the bands Esoteric, Thergothon, Mournful Congregation, Evoken, Skepticism, and Funeral.
5. Traditional doom
This fusion genre of doom metal was influenced by the heavy metal music of the 1970s and 1980s. Higher guitar tuning is commonly used by the traditional doom metal bands. Slow to mid-tempo songs are typically played by traditional doom bands with a thick and heavy sound. The electric bass follows the melody line.
Keyboards are used at times, but they are not a primary instrument in traditional doom songs. This fusion genre of doom metal uses clean vocals with occasional scream or growl. Just like the other fusion genres of doom metal, the lyrics are dark and eerie. Witchcraft, Saint Vitus, and Reverend Bizarre are some of the bands specializing in traditional doom.